A2 FP1 : Industrialisation and 5YP Key facts and stats (Process, Impact, Success)

Question 1

What were some of the key reasons for industrialisation?

Answer 1

1. To transform the USSR into a great industrial power through central planning and management of the economy.
2. Proletarianisation of the Russian people
3. Establishing a war economy

Question 2

What was GOSPLAN?

Answer 2

Gosplan was the State Planning Agency, responsible for drawing up the plans and establishing output targets for every economic enterprise in accordance with party directives. It calculated figures which helped it to give priority to the use of resources, organised supply and distribution and took steps to ensure the necessary investment and recognition to balance the economy.

Question 3

What were the problems with Gosplan?

Answer 3

1. Suffered from a lack of reliable information and faced difficulty planning for many variable and changing commodities. Targets set were ambitious and local party leaders would argue with Gosplan about why their region should have priority on materials.
2. Due to highly ambitious targets, corruption and fraudulent numbers were built into the system from the outset.
3. Gosplan worked with falsified statistics and if anything went wrong their officials could and would be held responsible. This resulted in many of Gosplan’s own officials beinf dismissed for not being free of corruption.

Question 4

When was the first Five-Year-Plan?

Answer 4

October 1928 to December 1932.

Question 5

What was one-person management?

Answer 5

A sole director of industrial enterprise was in charge of and responsible for seeing that targets were achieved. The trade unions were told not to interfere and to docus on increasing worker productivity. Therefore workers’ control over the factory floor receded as the plans progressed.

Question 6

Why did Stalin and the Vesenkha want to mainly invest in heavy industry?

Answer 6

They wanted the soviet union to be less reliant on the West for goods such as coal, iron and steel and could move towards ‘autarky’ / self sufficiency.

Question 7

What is the russian word for the Supreme Economic Council?

Answer 7

Vesenkha.

Question 8

What were the reprucussions of focusing on heavy industry?

Answer 8

Consumer industries producing clothes, shoes and similar products would be downgraded.

Question 9

Why were plans always declared complete a year ahead of schedule?

Answer 9

To denote the superiority of Soviet Planning over the Western capitalist economies which were, at the time, suffering from the Great Depression. It was also a psychological device to encourage the workers to even greater achievements.

Question 10

First Five Year Plan

In Stalin’s first five year plan what percent of investment was for heavy industry?

Answer 10

80%

Question 11

First Five Year Plan

How many enterprises were opened in the first five year plan?

Answer 11

1500 new enterprises.

Question 12

First Five Year Plan

What were the aims of the first Five Year Plan?

Answer 12

1. Increase production by 300%
2. Focus on the development of coal, iron, steel, oil and machinery
3. boost electricity by 600%
4. Double the output of the light industry such as chemicals.

Question 13

First Five Year Plan

How did the electricity production change during the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 13

It trebled

Question 14

First Five Year Plan

What happened to coal and iron, + steel production during the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 14

Coal and iron output doubled and steel production increased by a third.

Question 15

First Five Year Plan

What was the engineering industry like under the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 15

The engineering industry developed and there was an increased output of machine-tools, turbines etc.

Question 16

First Five Year Plan

What was built during the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 16

Huge new industrial complexes were built or were in the process of being built - e.g Dnieprostroi Dam work began in 1927 and finished in 1932 and The Turksib Railway (1929).
+ Huge new tractor works were built in Stalingrad, Kharkov and other places to meet the needs of mechanised agriculture.

Question 17

First Five Year Plan

What were some of the weaknesses of the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 17

• There was very little growth, even some decline, in consumer industries such as house-building, fertilisers and food.
• Chemical targets were not fulfilled.
• Lack of skilled workers - quicksand society.
• The great depression had driven down the price of grain and raw materials so the USSR could not make enough money from exports to pay for all the machinery it needed.
• A good deal of investment had to be dedicated to agriculture because of the forced collectivisation movement.

H soviet economy kickstarted.

Question 18

Second Five Year Plan

When was the Second Five-Year Plan?

Answer 18

January 1933 to December 1937

Question 19

Second Five Year Plan

What was the focus of the second five-year plan?

Answer 19

Heavy industries still featured strongly but new industries opened up and there was greater emphasis on communications, especially railways to link cities and industrial centres.

Question 20

Second Five Year Plan

How many enterprises opened in the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 20

4,500 new enterprises opened.

Question 21

Second Five Year Plan

When were the 3 good years of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 21

1934-1936

Question 22

Second Five Year Plan

What was successful about the second five year plan?

Answer 22

• Transport and communications grew rapidly
• The plan benefited from big projects such as the Dnieprostroi Dam coming into use.

Question 23

Second Five Year Plan

How much had coal production increased by between the First and Second plans?

Answer 23

1932 : Coal production was 64.4 million tons
1937 : Coal production was 128 million tons.

Question 24

Second Five Year Plan

What was a major success of the Second Five Year plan?

Answer 24

By 1937 the USSR was virtually self-sufficient in machine-making and metal-working.

Question 25

# Second Five Year Plan What targets were exceeded in the Second Five Year plan?

Answer 25

Target production of Steel was 17.0 million tons, actual production was 17.7 million tons. Target production of machine tools was 40 thousand, actual production was 45.5 thousand.

Question 26

# Second Five Year Plan How many tons of oil were produced in 1937?

Answer 26

28.5 million, 18.3 million tons below target.

Question 27

# Second Five Year Plan When was the Moscow Metro opened?

Answer 27

1935

Question 28

# Second Five Year Plan When was the Volga canal opened?

Answer 28

1937.

Question 29

# Second Five Year Plan How was the volga canal built, how many of these workers died?

Answer 29

The volga canal was built using prison labour, around 22,000 prisoners died.

Question 30

# First Five Year Plan When was magnitogorsk built?

Answer 30

1929

Question 31

# First Five Year Plan What was the population of Magnetogorsk in 1932?

Answer 31

250,000

Question 32

# Second Five Year Plan What were the weaknesses of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 32

* Consumer goods and industries were still lagging, although they were showing signs of recovery. There was growth in footwear and food processing - but not enough. * Oil production did not make expected advances.

Question 33

What was the overall success of the First Five Year Plan?

Answer 33

It served to kickstart the Soviet economy however many targets were not met with a large portion of targets being too high to reach.

Question 34

What was the overall success of the Second Five Year Plan?

Answer 34

The second plan was more successful than the first with targets being met in some areas and a great boom in industrialisation, the second plan was more one of consolidation - the years 1934-1936 were known as the three good years since pressure was not so intense, food rationing ended and families had more disposeable income.

Question 35

# Third Five Year Plan When was the Third Five-Year Plan?

Answer 35

January 1938 - June 1941

Question 36

Why did the third five year plan only run for 3 years?

Answer 36

The third five year plan only ran for three and a half years because of the USSR's entry into the Second World War.

Question 37

What were the goals of the third five-year plan?

Answer 37

Renewed emphasis on heavy industry (amaments for war) promote rapid rearmament complete the transition to communism

Question 38

What was the problem with the third five-year plan?

Answer 38

The Third five year plan ran into difficulties at the beginning of 1938 due to an exceptionally hard winter and the diversion of materials to the military. Gosplanw as thrown into chaos when the purges created shortages of qualified personnel, such as important managers, engineers and officials, who linked industries and government.

Question 39

What affect did rearmament have on other areas during the third five year plan?

Answer 39

Spending doubled on rearmament during 1938 to 1940 causing steel production to stagnate, oil failed to meet its targets - causing a fuel crisis - and many industries found themselves short of raw materials. Consumer goods were once again regulated to lowest priority.

Question 40

What happened in 1938 due to the need of defence?

Answer 40

There was an exceptionally hard winter due to the fuel crisis and lack of consumer goods.